


Young Glass

by ilili



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: EYEPATCH CORRIN, Gen, NO INCEST LOL, Sister-Sister Relationship, and i love her relationship with corrin, cuz i love love love hinoka, kind of a sad little drabble thing im gonna write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-04
Updated: 2016-03-05
Packaged: 2018-05-24 17:52:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6161621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilili/pseuds/ilili
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Corrin makes the choice the side with Hoshido. Her big sister is overjoyed, but a little concerned by her long lost sisters eyepatch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. in which sisters reunite

4 weeks, 5 days. She couldn't find the focus to count the hours amidst the hustle and bustle of an ever-busy army, but she would if she could. Minutes too. 

"We're your family. Come home to us, little princess." 

Xander had spoken those words so calmy, so assuredly, as if he knew the inside of her mind and could see how badly she wanted to return home as if nothing had happened. But thinking back on it now, she could feel his uncertainty, the small, almost unnoticeable shaking behind his words that betrayed his feelings. That nothing could ever be the same. She felt it too.

And that's why she left.

Corrin couldn't remember the battle that ensued after she'd made her choice: she'd steeled herself to fight with her brother one last time, but while she had folded under the pressure of what might have been their final confrontation, Xander seemed as strong as ever. She'd been hurt badly, and a lifetime of bruises suffered from their training together came back to her all at once. At the time she felt almost certain she would have died had Ryoma not stepped in to interfere, but now she knew differently. Xander would not have killed her there, or ever. The piece of his heart that felt love and mercy was still strong and full.

_The piece father lost long ago._ She thought.

After that her memory was hazy. She heard the rush of wind and the sound of whinnying, her older sisters voice barking out commands at hoshidan soldiers, the clanking of armor as a large force charged past her, forward into battle. That must have been the moment she'd truly accepted the hoshidan family as her own; the moment they struck out into bloody battle, all for her sake. 

She remembered waking up in camp. Hinoka and Ryoma stood at her bedside. Sakura tended her wounds. Takumi stood in the doorway, feigning indifference but unable to look away from the precedings for more than 5 seconds. "Are you all right?" Ryoma asked her, pushing Sakura gently aside to kneel beside her. 

"I think so." She'd replied.

Hinoka was in tears then, and Sakura tried to reassure her that her wounds were nothing serious, and that passing out had been a result of mental and emotional fatigue rather than any life threatening injury, though this only sent Hinoka into a more violent fit of sobs. Ryoma held his sisters close for a moment, then lead Hinoka out of the room. 

Sleep overtook her once more.

It had been 2 weeks and 3 days when Hinoka had found her walking alone between the cherry trees. Her mood was brighter then. "Sister! I'm so glad I found you. I've been meaning to ask you something!"

She smiled at Hinoka's cheerfulness. Seeing her happy made her feel the same. "What is it? I'm sure I can find some way to help." She assumed Hinoka needed some chore done. She'd been working nonstop for the hoshidans since she'd joined them, no doubt Ryoma or some others effort to take her mind off of her decision.

"Weeelll, it's more about me helping YOU! I think you and I should start training together!"

She was taken aback by this at first, and couldn't hide the expression of shock on her face in time to hide it from Hinoka. She noted the flash of sadness across her sisters face and was quick to respond. "I'd love to-" 

She paused, searching for the right words. This had been the first time since she'd joined up with the hoshidans that someone had offered to spend time with her. This was a special moment. It felt right to use special words.

"-Big Sister." Corrin beamed at Hinoka, and suddenly it was her turn to express shock. She could see the tears welling up in her sisters eyes, until she found her composure again and let out the biggest smile Corrin had ever seen in her life. "I guess you won't mind if training starts now then, huh? I'm gonna go extra hard on you for almost making me cry!" She laughed, and Corrin laughed too. This felt good. 

This felt right.


	2. in which sisters go over some things

If she had to use a word to describe training with Hinoka, she'd use "desperate". 

Every clash between the two sisters was all out, neither leaving anything to be spared. A lifetime had passed by them both with a kingdom and hundreds of miles between them; now they were were together again, and their desire to know the sister they had lost bled into their every move. Hinoka would fight on foot with Corrin at first, throwing inquisitive blows with her spear, trying to learn how she moved in battle as though she were trying to learn how to read a book she couldn't quite understand yet. Corrin responded in turn with quick, cautious strikes of her sword, and their early training sessions often devolved into this strange ritual; circling in place, poking at the other with their weapon, trying to comprehend how the other moved and reacted to different situations before the short amount of time they'd allotted to sparring ran out. 

It didn't take long for Corrin to convince Hinoka to start fighting from atop her pegasus. "You're at a disadvantage on foot." She explained. "I want to see how you fight at your best." and "The best way to get to know someone is through combat."

"Besides," She added. "I have plenty of experience fighting against a mounted opponent." 

She tried to make it sound playful, to hide how sad it made her feel to bring up her training with Xander, but she could tell her sister could see through it. "Alright then." Hinoka answered plainly.

And for a while, training felt fresh again. Her sister knew her habits, but now Corrin was fighting against a completely different Hinoka; one with years of experience behind her, who moved not with the stiff rigidity of someone who had only trained to fight but with the natural fluidity of someone who had seen battle before, fought and survived. She reminded her of Xander. 

The problems started to arise near the end of their sessions. Hinoka would always have the upper hand (no doubt the result of the gulf of experience between the two) but at the last second she would ease off, lower her guard, make an obvious mistake that gave Corrin the advantage and let her win. At first Corrin thought it might have been a fluke, but it soon became difficult to ignore the pattern. 

She'd spent her entire life alone in the northern fortress. She knew from watching the servants from afar how to read people.

On the fourth week, on the fifth day, she confronted Hinoka.

"Why are you letting me win?" She asked.

Her sister didn't react at first. "Hinoka?" She asked again.

"I... I'm not letting you win, Corrin, I just..." A pregnant pause hung in the air for a long time. When Corrin realized Hinoka wasn't going to finish her thought, she spoke up again.

"Well, I'm not mad at you, sister, but you're the one who suggested training together." She felt the heat rising in her cheeks. "I don't see what the point is, then, if you're going to treat me like a chi-!"

"Your eye." Hinoka cut her off. "I wouldn't... It wouldn't feel right to beat you in combat when you can't even see half the battlefield." She sounded like she hadn't figured out quite what to say, and decided on what she thought sounded best.

Corrin felt the heat in her cheeks spread throughout her body now. She'd gotten used to living with only one eye; she knew how to focus her attention on the entire battlefield, how to judge the distance of an enemy, how to move to cover her blind side. She'd even heard of an archer in service to the royal family of nohr with only one eye, who was just as deadly with a bow as any rank and file soldier with both. She had her weakness, but she knew how to compensate. She would not be treated as less than because of one mistake in her past. 

She was about to open her mouth to let Hinoka know this, when her sister cut her off again.

"No, I'm sorry, I know what you're about to say and I apologize. I don't... I don't really think that." Hinoka confessed. Her eyes start to gleam with tears, but she wouldn't let them fall.

"Then why?" Corrin pressed. "Why are you acting like this? Why spend all this time training with me just to let me win?" 

Her sister stood there, frozen, her lips pressed together tight as if letting them go would cause her entire body to unravel on the spot. 

"H-how did you lose your eye?" She finally asked, breaking the silence.

 

It struck Corrin just how small her big sister looked in that moment, her eyes locked to the ground, hands clasped together across her stomach. She'd never known her sister as a child, but there was an overwhelming feeling that in this moment, Hinoka had travelled back through time and was 6 years old all over again. 

She'd never been asked the question before. No one had ever had to ask. Word traveled fast in the small world of the northern fortress, and everyone she'd ever met had already been told the story before Corrin even knew their name. This would be the first time she'd tell it in her own words.

"I-I uh.. I lost it when I was sparring with my big brother." Her mouth felt dry, and her voice cracked as she recounted what had happened. "He was on his horse, and threw out a blow he assumed... he KNEW I would be able to dodge but I... I was taken off guard and lost my footing and his sword..." 

Corrin realized she was the one staring at the ground now. Her palms felt clammy with sweat. She never could have anticipated reliving the events would have such an effect on her, and silently cursed herself as she failed over and over again to finish her story. 

Then she felt Hinokas hands in hers. She looked up, and her big sisters eyes were red with tears, and the grip on her hands tightened. 

"I'm so sorry, sister."

"Don't be, it happened so long ago, it's-"

"I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you." Hinoka's words came through choked sobs. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there to save you and take you home, even though I tried so hard every day to bring you back and I..."

"Sister,-"

"I held you when you were a baby. I was only 5 years old but I held you and when I did I thought-" Another sob. "-I thought that you were the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen in my life and I told myself I'd protect you forever." 

Corrin couldn't stop her own tears now, and as though she were on queue Hinoka pulled her in to a hug that seemed to wrap around Corrins entire body like a warm blanket.

Hinoka continued, her words muffled into Corrins shoulder. "I love you so much, more than you know, and the whole time you were gone and you didn't even know I existed, I was loving you and hoping you'd come home to me someday. I was so afraid when we confronted your... Your siblings from Nohr that you would choose them over us and I'd lose you again..." 

Her sisters words soon deteriorated into wailing sobs, and both girls stood together in the middle of the field of cherry trees, holding each other close, silent but for each others tears.

 

They stayed like this for a while, until finally Hinoka regained her composure and released her grip on her sister. Her hands shifted to Corrins shoulders, and the two met each other eye to eye.

"I'll always protect you, Corrin." Said Hinoka. The words left her lips, and they both felt a warm feeling, as though they'd both thought the same thing but couldn't believe it until it had been said out loud. 

Corrin reached up to take hold of her sisters hands, locking together with her own and hanging them between the two. 

"I know, Hinoka. I love you, big sister."

**Author's Note:**

> There's a lot to Hinoka's character that isn't really expanded on in her supports with Corrin; mostly her becoming a pegasus knight at a young age to go get her back. I wanted to explore that protective side of Hinoka, and how powerless she must have felt, and that's where the idea of Corrin coming home with an eyepatch came from. I was like, "What if she finally comes home, but she's not all in one piece." Hinoka dedicated her life to protecting her sister, but she got really hurt a long time ago and she never knew about it. I wanted to see how that'd play out between them, and this is what I came up with. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!!


End file.
